During the Second World War, the Congress of Industrial Organizations in Canada grew from a handful of members to more than a quarter-million. What was it about the “good war” that brought about this phenomenal growth? Labour Goes to War argues that both economic and cultural forces were at work. Labour shortages gave workers greater economic power in the workplace. But cultural factors – workers’ patriotism, ties to those on active service, and allegiance to the “people’s war” – also fueled the CIO’s growth. The complex, often contradictory, motives of workers during this period left the Canadian labour movement with an ambivalent progressive/conservative legacy.

Wendy Cuthbertson's profile page

Wendy Cuthbertson has worked for the Canadian Auto Workers Union, the Ontario Pay Equity Commission, and the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.

Although the CIO began the Second World War on precarious ground, by 1945 it had become a powerhouse. Labour Goes to War explains how this transformation took place, offering original insight into the making of the Canadian labour movement during the war years. Drawing on the reconstruction rhetoric of the peoples’ war for democracy, the CIO expanded its own commitment to equality rights for women and minorities and promoted a new language of social entitlement for working people.

Joan Sangster, author of Transforming Labour: Women and Work in Postwar Canada